Rockland resident summonsed on car quagmire

Thursday

Jul 17, 2014 at 8:02 AMJul 17, 2014 at 6:03 PM

A criminal complaint has been filed by Hingham District Court against Rockland resident Kevin McGee, after a clerk hearing between McGee and town officials took place on June 30. What that means is that the matter at hand will now be tried in an actual courtroom, according to Rockland Town Administrator Allan Chiocca.

Seth Jacobson

A criminal complaint has been filed by Hingham District Court against Rockland resident Kevin McGee, after a clerk hearing between McGee and town officials took place on June 30.

What that means is that the matter at hand will now be tried in an actual courtroom, according to Rockland Town Administrator Allan Chiocca.

“A summons will be issued for an arraignment (for McGee) sometime in the next couple of weeks,” Chiocca said. “Court dates will then be determined.”

The matter in question has to do with a complaint involving a resident who was allegedly selling cars illegally off his Union Street property, according to Chiocca.

He explained he and Town Attorney Robert Galvin took charges out against McGee of 511 Union St. in March.

“The issue is he’s been selling cars without a license to do so,” Chiocca said of McGee in a past interview.

In 2008 and 2009, McGee failed to receive a renewed Class 2 license to sell cars from selectmen.

Located in a residential zone, McGee has said he has a right to sell cars on his Union Street property because that right was grandfathered into his land.

While Chiocca said that grandfathering was once valid, it was deemed invalid after McGee failed to apply for a new license within two years.

McGee has said he has suffered years of mistreatment at the hands of town officials when it comes to his being able to get a license to sell cars.

In March, after the complaint was filed against McGee, Rockland Police Det. Sgt. Gregory Pigeon was dispatched to McGee’s Union Street property to investigate whether cars were being sold.

In an incident report, Pigeon stated, “Attorney Galvin had viewed a website, www.columbiamotors.com, which contained a number of used cars for sale. Included in this website appeared to be a number of cars for sale at a lot owned by (McGee)….”

The report goes on to say that many cars were photographed by police on the lot in question, 14 of them to be exact.

“Any reasonable person would view this property and the website, www.bestbuycars.com and believe that (McGee) is in the business of selling used vehicles on this property,” Pigeon stated in the report.

Pigeon states in the report that an undercover officer was also used last month during the investigation to see if McGee was selling cars.

“(The detective that met with McGee) that he was at the lot for over an hour and (McGee) was clearly attempting to sell him a vehicle,” the report reads.

Chiocca stressed McGee has the option of operating at another location in town, just not the location in the residential area on Union Street.